SUMMER!!!!!

Finally the sunny and more than warm weather has arrived! It's Summer!!!

This weekend we had a bbq on Saturday with Cor, Zander, one of his 2 friends and I. It was nice and I'm so glad to see that Zander totally accepts Cor now. It almost took him a year to adjust to this new situation.

Yesterday Cor and I went to our Municipal Hall, together with a lot of other people from our community to try and break the picnic record for the Guiness Book of Records. We didn't succeed but it was fun and all for free. There were lots of other things to do and Cor and I took a workshop Djembe. I liked it so much that I also took the second class. Cor went to the hairdresser to cut off his long hair and it looks great!! I had my eyebrowes done with a thread. The lady who did them worked very fast and in no time she gave me beautiful eyebrowes.

Back at home we sat in the garden under the trees and enjoyed this refreshing breeze. It was a perfect weekend!!! Hope yours was too!

I love deer!!

This evening I went for a walk close to my house and I took my camera with me. I was hoping to see some deer and I was lucky. I startled a deer that was very close to the path. I tried to take some photos while she was looking out for a way to escape but she was very fast and there were a lot of obstacles between her and me. Finally she ran into a small piece of wood and when I went over to look for her I saw her with her baby. I managed to shoot a couple of photos of the mother but her little one was behind her and a lot of branches. It was only when the mother decided that she and her little one weren't in any danger that I could take a photo of the behind of the fawn when it walked away behind it's mother. The photos aren't my best but as you can see there where a lot of branches between my camera and the deer and I also had to use the 12x optical zoom which makes it even more difficult to get clear and steady photos.

I also took a photo of a small tree that is standing in the middle of grass-land. I took a photo of the same tree last winter when there was lots of snow. I'll upload them both in this post so that you can see for yourself how lovely this little tree is all year round.

Some new old stuff

When I was at Cor's place last weekend we went to "Het Goed" in Hoogeveen. It's a great recycle store where I love to go. I bought some warm clothes (because it was really cold this weekend and I forgot to bring some warm clothes with me) and in the back of the store I saw an old wooden step-ladder which I have been looking for for quite some time. The best part is that I got it for free! I like getting stuff for free, don't you?

Later that day we went to see an old schoolfriend of Cor who is the owner of La Brocante, a nice thrift shop with lots of stuff from France. I bought an old stew-pan where I'm going to put in some nice colorful plants.

Jenny Lane video

Shame on me ...

... for not keeping you updated about my life!

A lot of things have happened these last few months and by times I feel exhausted and not in the mood to sit down and write something on my blog. I make an effort today to tell you about what is going on lately!

The bad news is that the cancer is spreading further in my dad's body and he's on morphine now. If that's not helping enough he has to get radiation. The wound on his back is healing nicely but it is still a large wound. His therapy is going great!! He can walk in between the wooden barres by himself and they have also started to let him walk behind his rollator. We keep up hope that he and my mom will end up living together in a home for elderly people. My mom doesn't like to be alone and she asks a lot of my attention.

My son is doing okay but is giving me a lot of headaches. The school he was in for the last couple of years doesn't want him anymore. He missed out on his exams this year! They want me to put him in a special school for kids with behaviour problems. I'm not thrilled about those schools for kids with autism because there are a lot of kids with acting out behaviour who are using drugs and alcohol and whom are using the kids with autism for their criminal activities. I've heard that about 70-80% of the kids with autism attending these schools end up with a criminal record. That's not what I have in mind for my son!

My relationship with Cor is still standing strong and I love him to pieces!! We both like to do things outside and go to concerts. Last Wednesday we went to a concert of Deva Premal, Miten and Manose in Almere together. I have been to their concert last year with some friends but Cor also wanted to hear them sing live. It was great to hear them sing again!

And we also went to see a Dutch singer a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Jenny Lane and she gave a fab live performance in Groningen. I just had to buy her cd called Monsters after the concert and she signed it! Just go here to see a video I made during the concert!

My creative activities like painting and scrapbooking are on the hold for some time now. I have just recently started crochet because this is something I can take and do everywhere. My dad's not much of a talker and it's very calming to sit with him and work on my bed cover.

Photos:

1. Jenny Lane in Groningen
2. Deva Premal, Miten and Manose
3. Orchids near Cor's house
4. Cor's house with the orchids at the front
5. A Squirrel in a tree behind my house
6. A cormorant drying his/her wings near Cor's house

Latest news.

The latest news is that my dad's cancer is spreading through his bones. That's why he was in a lot of pain! We already knew he had cancer (of the prostate) for 3 years but the doctor told us that he could easily live another 10 years or so. They don't give him chemo but hormones to stop the proces of spreading the cancer further through his body and he feels less pain already. Soon he will be going to another nursing and rehabilitation centre nearby, where they will focus on healing the decubitis and on exercices to give him back his strenght so that he can come back home. The doctor in hospital is very optimistic about that and so we are too! My dad is eager to go home so that will help him through the proces of getting him back on his feet and it gives him a goal. These last couple of months he was just laying in bed with a lot of pain and there was nothing positive in his situation. If the hormones do their work properly and stop spreading the cancer any further he can live a couple of more years. But we already know that it will come back sooner or later and so we have to accept that he's going to die within 2 or 3 years. But first we are going to celebrate his 82nd birthday next Saturday!

So for now life is going on and today Cor and I went to see the Liberty Tour. It's 65 years ago that Vries was liberated from the Germans during World War II and because all of the province of Drenthe was liberated it was celebrated with a Liberty Tour. About 150 old army vehicles were parading through our Province and today they were coming through Vries.

After the Liberty Tour we went to De Wijk because we promised Cor's mother we would take her to see the flowers at the estate near De Wijk. Cor and I also went there last weekend and I took some beautiful photos of the Hollowroot (a plant that is growing at the estate in a large quantity) and an owl.

We also went to see the goats Cor takes care of for his former employer because it is very close to his place. Most of the goats are pregnant and Cor has to give them extra food and check in every other day to see if there are little ones. We also went to see them yesterday but there were no kids to see yet. But today when we were on our way to Cor's mother we passed over the highway by the pasture where the 19 goats are staying and Cor thought he saw a little one. So we had to go and see if he was right. He was, because one of the goats gave birth to 2 little ones. They were probably born this morning and they were so cute!!! One of the other pregnant goats (not the one on the first photo) has very large nipples (they are almost reaching the ground!) and her little kids are doomed to die if they aren't been found soon after they are born because they won't be able to drink from the nipples hanging that low. If Cor finds them in time and none of the other goat mothers want to feed them, they are probably coming to stay at my place so that I can feed them with a bottle by hand. I think that will be fun to have 2 or 3 little kids to take care of and have them jumping around in my back yard. This particular mother goat really is HUGE (much bigger than the one on the first photo) and she probably has 3 kids carrying with her. I really hope Cor will find the little ones in time!

Edited: The 3 little kids are born in good health. The owner of the goats has taken the mother and her little ones to his farm where they will be fed with a bottle with the milk of the mother.

Pfff .... I know

.... I'm a terrible blogger lately! It's just that I have so much on my mind that I can't keep up with everything.

Things are still not going so well with my son and after having so many people around the house for years now to help me with him, I really get tired of not having more privacy.

And then there are my parents (81 and 82) who need my attention. My dad's in hospital for a week now and before that he was staying in 2 different nursing homes for about 6 weeks. In the first one they didn't take good care of him and now he has a huge decubitus spot on his tailpiece. This is going to take months to heal and in the mean time he can't be operated on his hip which needs to be done ASAP because he's in a lot of pain. I'm going to see my dad as much as possible and I also try to help my mother.

My relationship with Cor is still blooming and it makes me feel blessed!! Even Zander is accepting/tolerating my relationship with Cor. We can finally sit down and have a meal together!!

When I'm not busy taking care of other people I try to work on my mixed media art projects.

I'm still following Suzi Blu's workshop Angels and I also started with the workshopThe Goddess and the Poet. It's really cool!!

photo 1: mixed media art portraits in my art journal

photo 2: detail of left face

photo 3: drawing with graphite pencil on paper and wood

photo 4: final result of mixed media art portrait on wood

photo 5: another mixed media art portrait on wood

Snow!!

It has been snowing all day over here! In the afternoon we measured 16 cm of snow. I bought some Canadian snowboots at the Aldi and did some groceries for my parents. I took the sled to transport the groceries. It took me quit some time! Back home I decided I wanted to make some photos of the winter wonderland and went out again for a walk near my house.

Finished my angel!

So this is the final result of my first angel in my new Moleskine art journal! I added a couple of more layers with paint, lettering, stamping, ribbon and stars.

For the last couple of days I'm working on 2 angel paintings on wood. One traditional angel and one primitive angel as Suzi likes to call them. The primitive one is like the "les petits dolls" class I did last year. I finished the woodburning and have to start painting. The traditional angel is halfway.
I won't have a lot of time painting in the next week or so because I'm making some changes to my house. I'm going to swop my bedroom upstairs with my scrapbookroom downstairs. It'll be a lot of work!! I'm so glad that Cor is coming to help me!! My son is going away for some time because he doesn't like to be at home when I have to make alterations to the house.

Angel

I started with a new workshop from Suzi Blu a couple of days ago. It is all about Angels!! I love it!!! On Friday I went with Cor to Assen to buy some birch plywood, because I have to work on wood most of the time. But for starters I made some sketches in my large sketchbook and I'm working on a 2 page angel in my new Moleskine sketchbook. Suzi recommends them for using as an art journal and they really are great to work in.

So this is how my angel looked this morning before I started to work on it again. I hope to finish her tomorrow!

Note: If you want to buy a Moleskine sketchbook and you live in The Netherlands you can order them here.